Ukrainian refugee with cancer left sobbing as he faces having family cat taken away

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Ukrainian family are facing the prospect of having their cat taken away from them on the jubilee bank holiday. Michael Rybintsev travelled to Poland in May to fly his elderly parents, Serhii and Antonina, back to the UK.

Serhii, aged 70, suffers with stage three cancer and is fairly bedbound, his son said. His cat Malyavka, 18, which translates to "little one", spends most of her days in bed in Pembrokeshire, Wales, keeping Serhii company, Wales Online reports.The prospect of Malyavka having to spend three months in quarantine, having already spent three weeks in the rented property, brought the elderly man to tears - the first time Michael had ever seen his father cry.Animal health officials told Michael they would be arriving on Thursday to take the cat.Michael, 30, said he told an official "You’re taking an old and sick 18-year-old cat from a stage three cancer war refugee on a jubilee weekend" and was given the response: "The timing is rather unfortunate."Michael's parents are from Dnipro in the east of Ukraine, where, Michael said, "there are occasional missiles landing in the city." But with Serhii undergoing cancer treatment, Michael wanted his father in a safer place.

They left the city when the evacuation trains resumed after the initial attacks from Russia.Michael has documented the entire process of bringing his parents and their cat to Wales, something he started on April 10.He's been left feeling helpless and called the approach by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) "heartless and cruel".

His father has "suffered enough already", he said. He added: "He didn't want to leave Ukraine but the situation is getting dire."Having initially booked flights to the UK for April 28, Michael had to make